The Development Bank Ghana (DBG) has partnered Access Bank to provide support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.
The partnership will see DBG led money to Access Bank for on-lending to SMEs as long-term loans.
The Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana PLC, Olumide Olatunji, commenting on the partnership said the bank was committed to adding value to the economy and one of the ways it measures its contribution was through the amount of credit it deploys into the market, particularly to SMEs.
He said this was because Access Bank considered SMEs as a very strategic pillar to the growth of the economy as they contributed over 70 per cent to GDP as well as create over 80 per cent of employment opportunities.
He noted that over the years, the bank had been actively engaged in the SME space, creating relevant products to support their growth.
In the last two years, he said the bank had impacted over 6500 SMEs with over GH₵50 million in loan support and through technical backstopping in the form of hands-on training on digitalisation from its capacity building workshops and SME Clinics held across the regions.
Our holistic interventions are also evident in the products we offer SMEs and such products have been made available digitally.
“Additionally, the Bank has partnered various stakeholders to ensure that funds are readily available to SMEs, all in a bid to support the growth of the sector,” he stated.
Funds to customers
He said the long-term financing being provided by DBG would be made available to customers who qualify under the criteria that had been set by DBG.
He also added that through this partnership, Access Bank would be able to scale-up significantly in terms of credit creation to support DBG’s aspiration to make credit available to Ghanaians and to Ghanaian businesses operating in our environment.
Access Bank plans to leverage the partnership with DBG to continuously support the Bank’s aspiration for SMEs. Through its network of branches and offices across the country, as well as its digital platforms, the bank’s clients and potential clients are encouraged to start the process to seek funding for their businesses.
Relevance of DBG
Commenting on the relevance of DBG, Olatunji said DBG was extremely relevant to the macro-economic stability of Ghana, with $1 billion seed fund to banks.
This makes collaboration with commercial banks very timely and very relevant to the market within which we operate.
“The SME sector has seen an appreciable level of support from commercial banks, especially with Access Bank,” he stated.
He said DBG’s reinforcement sought to make financing available for longer tenors and, of course, provide cheaper forms of financing to the relevant sectors that could continue to add value to the economy of Ghana.
